BATTLE OF THE BRANDS:

RAW vs. SMACKDOWN

FACTOR 1: MATCHES

Raw = The matches this week were again of high quality, with no match disappointing. Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre was one of the best Raw matches in quite a while, with Ricochet deservedly winning to progress in the King of the Ring tournament. Ricochet is favoured to go far in this tournament and his performance underlined just how great a wrestler he is.

Baron Corbin defeated The Miz in what was surprisingly a strong match. This match is proof that The Miz is a seriously underrated wrestler, as many wrestlers have attempted to drag a good match out of Corbin and failed. The finish of the match protected The Miz and set Corbin up as a dark horse for the rest of the tournament.

The tag team turmoil match was entertaining, whilst Sasha Banks defeated Natalya in dominant fashion, underlining just how dangerous she is now she has returned. Banks has managed to back up her smack talk, and it is so refreshing to see her in action.

Overall, the match quality was good, with a number of standout matches. The current consistency in quality wrestling on Raw continues to amaze me, and long may it continue.

SmackDown = The matches on show were good, however they lacked the consistent quality that Raw’s matches had. This was most evident with the Bayley vs Lacey Evans match, which was quite frankly a train wreck. Bayley was unable to put away Evans for 14 minutes which makes her look highly ineffective, but this is nothing compared to how bad Evans performed in the ring. She has been performing on Main Event exclusively, and this match showed why. Evans continues to struggle performing moves correctly which makes her look out of her depth.

Thankfully, the Ali vs Buddy Murphy match was an amazing contest. Both men showed fire and desire to win, with Ali narrowly progressing to the next round of the King of the Ring tournament. These 2 men have bright futures, and this match was the best match of the evening.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: PROMOS

Raw = Sasha Banks opened up Raw to explain why she had disappeared from WWE after WrestleMania, and why she was back to make amends. The passion shown by Banks during this promo was electric, with references to her reported walk out after losing the Women’s Tag Team Championships. The promo also set up a match with Natalya, which was highly effective in its own right. This was a great way to open the show, continuing the streak of great Banks promos over the past few weeks.

The Miz and Braun Strowman also delivered good promos which were both believable and effective. What wasn’t effective was the Firefly Fun House montage, which felt disjointed and largely pointless. This was the first Firefly Fun House promo that I did not enjoy.

SmackDown = Elias performed an entertaining promo about how he is the deserved King of the Ring winner. This led to a segment where he was beaten up by Kevin Owens and Drake Maverick pinned him for the 24/7 Championship, which immediately diluted the significance of his promo.

Kofi Kingston provided a great opening promo which was full of real passion, which is something he has recently started to integrate into his promos. This promo made me more intrigued for his match with Randy Orton at Clash of Champions.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: STORYLINES

Raw = I am a fan of the slow burning storyline between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman, especially as the threat of The OC looms over them. This is a multi faceted storyline which is genuinely intriguing, and this is leading to consistently compelling viewing. Aside from the King of the Ring tournament, this is my favourite aspect of WWE at the moment.

Sasha Banks continues to show the WWE universe that she means business, and the way she dismantled Natalya leaves fans salivating over her eventual match with Becky Lynch. This storyline has been perfectly booked so far, which is a relief following previously wasted returns of major stars.

SmackDown = Roman Reigns was able to establish that it was indeed Rowan that had tried to take him out previously, and it was this revelation that set in motion Daniel Bryan taking his frustration out on Rowan, in addition to taking a Spear when confronting Reigns. This segment made up for last week’s disastrous addition to the storyline, and teases that Bryan may split with Rowan. This was intriguing, but is nowhere near the level of intrigue currently invested in Raw’s storylines.

The remaining feuds in SmackDown are chugging along with no real interest. Raw is doing a much better job in keeping fans invested in their storylines, whilst SmackDown keeps their storylines lukewarm at best.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: SCHEDULING / PACING

Raw = Raw continued the recent trend of being genuinely easy to watch. The show no longer has glaring issues with pacing, and the logical flow to the show allows for a viewing experience that does not feel like a slog to get through. The show is by no means perfect, but is great nonetheless.

SmackDown = SmackDown was a chore to watch at times this week, and that is due to some of the segments feeling out of place. As a 2 hour show it is easy to watch, but the show doesn’t currently feel as fresh as Raw.

WINNER: Raw

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Raw gains points for the Eddie Guerrero tribute by AJ Styles. The cheat to win mantra was used to devastating effect, allowing Styles to retain his United States Championship and enhance his heel persona.

Raw also gains an additional point for keeping the 24/7 Championship shenanigans to a minimum. This not only helped the show seem less chaotic, but also allowed for more important matches and storylines to take the spotlight.

Raw loses points for having Baron Corbin anoint himself as King. I hope this is not a spoiler for the tournament as a whole, as King Corbin would be even more insufferable than he has been over the past 2 years.

SmackDown gains points for showcasing just how talented Ali and Buddy Murphy are. These two are stars to look out for in the future.

SmackDown loses points for invalidating a strong Elias promo by involving him in 24/7 Championship shenanigans. This segment made him look weak, and should he win the King of the Ring tournament, incidents like this would reduce the impact of his win and make him look like a poor winner.

POINT ADJUSTMENTS: Raw (+2 / -1) / SmackDown (+1 / -1)

THIS WEEK'S WINNER = Raw

Raw wins this week with a crushing score of 5 to 0. In terms of matches and promos, the offerings on Raw were much better and more exciting, with the storylines on Raw more compelling. It was a clean sweep this week, which is mainly due to the consistency Raw is currently showing.

Dallas Allsopp is a writer with two main interests, Pokemon and wrestling. He has been writing for a few years for his own personal blogs and is now taking his passion for wrestling and putting it into his writing. You can follow him on Facebook.

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